Farewell to Paradise

Day 150

"When you're talkin to yourself
And nobody's home
You can fool yourself
You came in this world alone"

It's now my last day in Cook Islands and in tropics before heading out to New Zealand for Christmas, New Year and most of the winter as well. This also marks the end of the 2nd leg of this journey and I am also closing in on midway mark, which means train will soon start heading back home.

Yea, been long time since last entry but there has been reason for it. First of all internet aint cheap in Cook Islands(9 dollars for hour compared to 2 dollars for hour in Auckland) and second, I have had to spend all my precious internet time in planning New Zealand and making all the necessary bookings. I'll just write down here my internet checklist for the other day so you get idea how much planning just simple 10 days takes:

- Buy Flexipass
- Reserve bus ticket to Kaitaia
- Book accomodation in Kaitaia
- Book Cape Reinga trip
- Reserve bus ticket to Paihia
- Book accomodation in Paihia
- Enquire about diving at Rainbow Warrior
- Enquire about sailing on Bay of Islands
- Reserve bus ticket to Whangarei
- Book accomodation in Whanagrei
- Enquire about diving in Poor Knights Island

...well, I guess you get the point ;) Sometimes it's handy to have travel agent but then you lose half the fun.

My last 6 days in Rarotonga was spent quietly, lot more quietly than those crazy nights at Vara's at the start of the trip. I did lot of hiking and went diving one day. On last day I wanted to catch up with Matt and Cherry at Vara's so went there to watch Matt's team succesfully defending their Cook Islands cricket trophy. Was pretty crazy night afterwards though :)

Oh, one creepy story about backpacker place I stayed my last 4 nights in Rarotonga. I woke up one morning around 6am to hear owner couple arguing. My room was right next to their office so I was propably only one hearing them. I was still kinda sleepy so slept till 8am and woke up. Got out and saw the owner lady with big swollen right eye! Ummm...ok, so I make myself brekkie and the guy comes to me: "Good morning, Tero. Did you hear us talking this morning? I was kinda loud." Ok...I immediately understood what is going on, this loser had beat up his wife and now he was making sure there was no witnesses. "No, I slept like a log", I responded. Last thing I wanted was to get involved into their mess. Entire day the guy came to me asking "Hey Tero, how are you? you good?". It was getting outright creepy since the guy wouldn't talk to me on any other days, only that day.

So how was Cook Islands?

People traveling to Cook Islands can be categorized into 2 groups: 7 out of 10 travelers are on Round-The-World ticket(RTW) and rest are basically vacationing from New Zealand. Reason for this is simple, only 2 cities with flights there are Auckland and Los Angeles. What I found weird was that nearly everyone was doing RTW from east to west, which basically means you lose a day instead of gaining a day. Well, after little chatting I found out that apparently flights are heaps cheaper that way so thats why people do it that way.

Other thing that caught my attention was that there were hardly any American tourists in Cook Islands. Reason to this is global recession and extremely weak US dollar. My divemaster in Aitutaki told me that 3-4 years ago there was 4 weekly flights from Los Angeles to Cook Islands and 2 of those planes were 747s. Now there is single 737 and they are planning to cancel that flight as well cause its always half empty.

On Cook Islands I also started to notice how my state of mind is changing. First 2-3 months on this journey I was happy doing absolutely nothing. I feel that period has passed and now I need stuff to do, sitting down and doing nothing just doesn't have the same appeal anymore. Well, I'm sure glad that I am in New Zealand at the moment because this place has the activities. Entire country is geared towards extreme activities to keep mind and body busy. I have now planned next 30 days so almost every day is has some sort of activity going on. Looking forward to it.

F*ck its hot!

Day 143

"Oh how I wish
For soothing rain
All I wish is to dream again"

Back in Raro now. So 3 days passed in Aitutaki's insane heat. People told me it was going to be hot out there, but I didn't realize just how hot it was going to be. Temperature was constant 33-34 in shade and humidity always above 60%, sometimes even as high as 80%. Other than heat I will remember Aitutaki as quiet place...and propably first real disappointment I have had so far.

And by disappointment I mean that island fell well below my expectations. I wasn't expecting much, but Jesus...place was so dead. If Ha'apai in Tonga was quiet then this place was just dead. There wasn't even single cafe, restaurant, bar, etc. in the island where one could meet other people. Only other tourists in island apparently stayed in resorts never leaving resort areas...and naturally resorts are don't accept non-guests, not even to their bars.

Well, this all ment that I had to make my own activities for 3 days I spent there. On tuesday I rented bicycle and decided to bike around the island. I don't even want to know how much temperature was in sun, but it was just scorching. After 2h I had circled the island and ended up in Aitutaki Lagoon Resort, the best and most expensive resort on island. After little persuasion, I was given permission to enter there for few hours and have lunch without paying 100 dollar daypass. I have to admit, place was stunning and scallop salad I had with Heineken wasn't bad either :)

On wednesday I went diving with local operator there. Now that was another "adventure". They were PADI licensed operator but their gear just looked dodgy as hell. On first dive we went quite deep, 23m when all the sudden I saw that my pressure meter needle(=one that shows how much air you have) started going haywire and I had trouble taking long breaths. Also, my divemaster was 10m away in front of me and I couldn't get his attention in any way. I had no choice but to start surfacing and it turned out that once I finally got to surface, my tank was literally empty.

On second dive I got new regulator but even that thing was broken! When we were descending I kept checking my depth meter and it wouldnt go below 3m. Was better dive at the end allthough I didn't really have clue how deep we were, afterwards divemaster told me we were only at about 18m.

On thursday it was time to take famous lagoon cruise inside Aitutaki's beautiful lagoon. From air lagoon seems like 8th wonder of the world, but unfortunately closer inspection was bit of letdown. Apparently 2005 there was series of cyclone's in Aitutaki which destroyed nearly all it's coral. Snorkeling was nice but it was clear how damaged the lagoon still is and that recovery process hasn't even started yet. Lunch was eaten in lagoon actually, they set up a table in the water and offered fish BBQ while Butterfly fishes kept poking our toes :)


On lagoon cruise I also got to visit islands where they shot Survivor: Cook Islands and Shipwrecked. Below is Survivor's Exile Island btw.

Beautiful day which was almost ruined at the end by ignorant, deaf and arrogant british "lady", but just almost ;)

Guesthouse I stayed in Aitutaki was...okish. Host family was great, they made me dinner 2 times and were constantly chatting, until it got to a point where my only choice for peace and chill was to lock inside my room. First 2 days were great with them but after that they just wouldn't let me read a book for 10 minutes without starting some sort of chat.

Now I'm back in Raro for 6 more days before heading back to New Zealand. Atm I really feel exhausted and tired, having very little energy to do anything new(not that there is anything "new" left to do). I just need a good night's sleep now which hopefully ain't constantly interrupted by bloody roosters singing.

I am a diver!

Day 138

"Sea without a shore for the vanished one unheard
He lightens the beacon, light at the end of world.
Showing the way, lighting hope in their hearts,
The ones and their travels homeward from afar."

Yes, I am now a certified open water diver.

Course took 4 days and 420 NZD(about 200 euros). My only regret is that I didn't do this sooner. I think there was 2 big pushes that I needed. First of all I had 19 days to spend in Cook Islands so time was not an issue, I had plenty of time. Second, met few fellow travelers in Tonga who kinda inspired me to do it as well.

It's amazing how all the sudden entire travel planning takes another dimension, underwater world. I am no longer looking/picking my future destinations based only on what they can offer above sealevel. There is whole new world underwater where I now have access, and all it took was 4 days and 200 euros.

Other than that, diving is bloody cool and fun. I have always liked swimming, snorkeling and generally being in water, especially when it's temperature is +27 degrees like here. I now have only 4 official dives behind me and already the aquatic life has been more divers than I have ever seen while snorkeling.

What else is going on? Well, I have been taking it quite easy while this course was on. Just sunbathing in Vara's amazing sundeck and cooling myself in picturesque lagoon.

On thursday we went to island night in Staircase nightclub. Entry ticket was only 5 NZD. Well, it was truly a 5 dollar show, nothing more. Basically dancers danced one same dance 6 times and had different name for each. When comparing, Island Night in Tonga beat the living crap out of this one.

Today is sunday...on monday I am heading out from Rarotonga, main island of Cook Islands to Aitutaki. I have 4 nights/3 days there. Was planning to do atleast 2 dives there, maybe even 4 if price is good. Coming back to Rarotonga on friday for 6 more nights. Today was planning to exercise little by taking 6h walk to islands highest mountain(693m), see ya :)

Beyond Dream

Day 135

"An old man by a sea shore at the end of day
Gazes the horizon with sea winds in his face.
Tempest-tossed island, seasons all the same."

Cook Islands, beyond heaven, beyond dream. Now this is what South Pacific paradise is in everyone's mind. This place is that image made into reality. Stunning beaches, lagoons, palm trees, majestic hills, CLEAN streets, no dogs barking 24/7, no pigs, warm weather, cool nights, coral reefs, etc. Okay, few too many roosters who still can't figure out the clock and start their concerts around 2-3am, but other than those, its all paradise.

Already when I stepped from airplane and into terminal in Rarotonga my jaw dropped. There was band playing local island music to welcome new arrivals. Quite different experience compared to Tonga where there wasn't even electricity and place was swarmed by spiders and cockroaches. Next I was taken to my guesthouse, Vara's, in east side of the island and that was second time my jaw dropped. Apparently I was living in one of the three rooms in this huge hillside mansion with giant veranda, huge kitchen and then TV and DVD player! All that for only 44 NZD per night(22 euros).

Next day I walked down to Vara's beach where they had office to check in. Did that and started chatting with Matt, guy who runs a shack/bar/grill/snorkel rental service there. I asked him if there would be chance to do diving course in island on coming week. After 30 minutes he came to me and said "hey mate, Pacific Divers around the corner can give you a course next week. Just go and talk to them." Wow! So, I went there and told I wanted to do Open Water course to which guy said: "Sure, when you want to start". "Hmmm, wednesday?", I replied to which he said "Ok, wednesday 8:30 we start, here is manual to read before course if you want to."

I mean...OMG! After Tonga and all the difficulties in arranging anything there I was positively shocked. Everything works here, people are so friendly and helpful, they talk english and place is so CLEAN. I really started to like Cook Islands more and more, despite the fact that it is very touristy(but not really totally spoiled by overtourism).

So on monday I went to do one thing I have dreamed of doing for years, spearfishing.

We went to lagoon reef for 3 hours and our group of 5 managed to get 9 fish in total, setting new record! I got just one, Parrotfish. Despite the fact that I only nailed one, and missed about 30 it was one of the coolest experiences in this trip so far. Will go again if I have time.

Here is the parrotfish I killed up and close.

Today I finally managed to go to town and travel agancy. Again I was stunned how well everything worked. I booked return flight to Aitutaki for monday next week and return flight on friday plus 4 nights in guesthouse. All this took less than 5 minutes! So my plan atm is to finish diving course by saturday, then as I am hopefully certified diver, travel to Aitutaki and do some diving there since apparently dive spots there are one of the best in entire Pacific.

Anyway, I was feeling little reserved about traveling to Pacific again after 3 weeks in Tonga. But Cook Islands is so differnet, so relaxed, chilled and full of true tropical paradise activities that I am really glad I took this 3 week sidetrip...so far. Vara's Guesthouse arranges barbecue nights every evening so meeting other travelers and making friends is so easy.

Now, I just pray that this annoying little flu will pass so I can start my course tomorrow and be a diver by saturday.

Heading to tropics, one last time

Day 131

"Come hell or high water
My search will go on
Clayborn Voyage without an end"

It's my last day in Auckland for now. Today I'll be heading towards Pacific again, destination Cook Islands, where I'll be arriving yesterday. So in essence I'll be time traveling to the past :)

So what's my impression of New Zealand so far? Well, I'm hoping not to offend few of my friends who reside in New Zealand atm, but one word that springs to my mind when thinking about Auckland is fail. This city is just failure in many aspects. It's not very pretty, poorly designed, some horrible arcitechture that reminds me almost of DDR, parks have no design, traffic doesn't work, very difficult to find basic services, weather sucks, etc. Auckland's harbour is very similar to Sydney's allthough smaller and not nearly as pretty.

People in New Zealand are nice though. I went to Air New Zealand office the other day to work out my travel plan on Cook Islands and there was this great guy called Michael assisting me. He made tons of calls and suggestions when something didn't work out they way I wanted. I was impressed until I got SMS from him later in the evening asking me if he could show me around in Auckland :-/

Hmm...it's entirely possible his intentions were completely innocent, but my weak gaydar had blinked couple of times before so I decided to skip his offer :)

Some people I met in Tonga told me to get out of Auckland as soon as possible. Well, finally on saturday I was able to do it and went to Waiheke island which is 40 minute ferry ride from Auckland. I'm so glad I did cause there I was able to get my first glimpses of actual New Zealand. I'm sure Waiheke is just a small teaser of what New Zealand has to offer in terms of landscape and people, but it was enough to restore faith. I'm now certain that when I get back here at the end of November and start my NZ tour, it will be awesome.

Waiheke island is more or less wine island. They have about 20 wineries there in total and all sell wines grown specifically in the island. I bought an all-day bus pass for 8 dollars and circled around the island all day. Weather was superb there and wines were just stunningly good. I was actually amazed that they were heaps better than wines I tasted in Hunter Valley, Australia.

So now it's time to head out into tropics, one last time on this trip. It's more than likely that this is the last time I will cross over the Tropic of Capricorn before heading out to home...sometime in the 2009.

From Paradise to Middle Earth

Day 127

"And now I'm all alone again
Nowhere to turn, no one to go to."

First little flashback back to Uoleva island. Here are some of the pictures I took there.

Traveling in Kingdom of Tonga went relatively easy...until saturday. It seems that everything piled on that day. I was suppose to fly from Ha'apai to Tongatapu at 15:00 so we had booked Taxi to pick us up from guesthouse at 13:45. At 14:00 there was still no Taxi so Andrew called the guy and apperantly he wasn't in the "mood" to drive us to airport and told us to get someone else...wtf?! Well, after some persuasion we finally managed to drag his ass to our guesthouse and got to airport around 14:15. But that was just start of it.

At check-in there was chaos. Flight was full so lot of Tongans were there asking for possible standby seats if someone doesn't show up. Well, it required to be rude to them to finally make it to counter and get seats. I sat down and watched as they were throwing our luggage in to the belly of the plane. All the sudden they stopped when about half was inside. Pilot came back from plane and told us that plane was overweight so they were going to leave all luggage behind and get them to Tongatapu later in the evening. We weren't too happy about that, but after he convinced that he himself was going to fly back and get the luggage we boarded the plane.

Ok, so now we went to Tongatapu and immediately in the counter there we asked when are our bags coming. You can imagine our faces when attendant told us that there are no planes going back to Ha'apai tonight and since next day was sunday(Tongans are not allowed to work on sunday's by law), it ment we were going to have to wait for our luggage till monday! Well, at this moment we started to cause a riot. We demanded to speak their manager and boss. After about 1 hour yelling at them and threatening lawsuits, there finally was plane going back to get our bags.

Now, if only this was the end of it. Guesthouse had sent car to pick me up but since we were still waiting for our luggage, I told him if he could return in 1.5h again. He told me "yes yes, no problem". Well, finally when I got my bag at 20:00 it was 2.5h after that and no car(Guesthouse was 35km away from airport). I called guesthouse and the guy had forgot to pick me up again!

Eh, so after all the hassle I got to guesthouse and decided that I needed a drink. I walked 5 mins to nearest store and asked for sixpack. Took it and started walking back when local police came to me "you are not allowed to buy beer after 17!". So I had to return beer back to store. At that point I decided to just go in my room and do nothing cause things clearly weren't going my way that day.

Next 4 days I spent in Tongatapu not doing much really. On last night I finally got chance to drink Kava. Had about 20 cups and was feeling QUITE light-headed :)


Finally, little info about Tonga:

To understand Tonga and what life is there, you need to understand people. Tongans do not have ambitions or thrive to make more money and wealth. When they reach certain income level which is enough to feed their family, dogs and pigs, then they stop. The easiest way to do this is to send 1-2 children overseas and have them send money back to them. That basically leaves entire family "unemployed" but still they have enough money to live and live happily. THAT is also reason why nothing works in Tonga, nothing ever gets done because no one wants to do it.

Other thing is their funerals...when someone in village dies, entire village participates in funeral ceremony that lasts 3-5 days, and of course no one works during that time. Then when funeral ends it's most likely someone's birthday, then some get married, then someone else dies, etc. So no wonder nothing ever gets done.

All in all...I am happy to have traveled to Tonga and it was definetly worth it. But...I seriously doubt that I will ever go back there.

So what's going on now? Now I have reached New Zealand and Auckland where I'm spending next 4 days before heading out to Pacific again. It's bloody freezing here atm, temperatures are around +15 and inside 24h I have learned what famous description of NZ weather really means: "Four seasons in one day".